PASSIFLORA CAERULEA L. TREATED WITH TRICHODERMA PLANT BIOSTIMULANTS CONSORTIUM. MORPHO-ANATOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Published in: Journal of plant development Vol. 25; pp. 3 - 14
• Main Authors: SÂRBU, Anca, PARASCHIV, Monica Anca, OANCEA, Florin, ŞESAN, Tatiana Eugenia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iasi Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" 20-12-2018; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi
• Subjects: Accumulation; Antioxidants; Bioactive compounds; Biological activity; Blood vessels; Bundles; Consortia; Cultivation; Cylinders; Flavonoids; Foliar applications; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Leaves; Medicinal plants; Microorganisms; nutraceutical crop; Passiflora caerulea; plant biostimulants Trichoderma consortium; Plant metabolism; Polyphenols; Spores; stems and leaves; Stomata; structural effects; Trichoderma; Xylem
• ISSN: 2065-3158; 2066-9917
• DOI: 10.33628/jpd.2018.25.1.3

Plant biostimulants are an emerging category of inputs into technologies for plant cultivation, which activate plant metabolism and nutrient use efficiency. A microbial plant biostimulants consortium was applied on Passiflora caerulea L., a medicinal and nutraceutical plant grown in greenhouse conditions. The treatments were applied during P. caerulea vegetation, as a foliar treatment with a Trichoderma consortium suspension of 108 cfu/ml, equiv. to 1013 spores/ha. The treatment determined significant quantitative changes on morpho-anatomical features, on the leaf lamina (lamina with 10-20% thicker, palisadic cells with 10-20% longer, larger stomata and stomatal index increased by 15%), on the leaf petiole (the diameter ~30% larger, conducting bundles, 20% more developed, the adaxial conducting bundles, ~30% increase) and on the stem (the diameter with 15-20% larger, central cylinder with 15-20% bigger, xylem vessels of more than 50 µm diameter, with 20% more present). These morpho-anatomical features demonstrate the plant biostimulants effects of Trichoderma consortium. The results presented here sustain with morpho-anatomical data the accumulation the bioactive compounds, mainly polyphenols and flavonoids with an increased antioxidant activity, which we already reported. Larger stems and leaves of P. caerulea, allow accumulation at a higher level of bioactives compounds.